Falling And Feigning
by PhoenixVanGarrett
Summary: Ava joined the military to find out the secrets surrounding her parents, but her relation to Annie has created a few obstacles with her investigation and with her new captain. Meanwhile, Katya struggles to come out of her father's shadow in order to help a certain commander open up and have some fun. Levi X OC, Erwin X OC. Rated M for language and sexual content in later chapters.
1. Chapter 1

**Okay, so for anyone who doesn't know, this is the new and improved version of "Falling Slowly and Desperately Feigning". The title was shortened and combined because it was just long and unnecessary before. The older version is very, very similar with plot and characters but, like I said...new and improved. So without further ado, here is the first chapter (re-done) Enjoy and review please. I really enjoy feedback.**

Inspection

Ava sat on the bench outside the temporary office Commander Erwin had acquired on the Survey Corps' visit to the Military Police headquarters inside Wall Sina. She anxiously tapped her foot, awaiting her turn for an annual inspection. It was generally the only time members of the Military could move up in the ranks or get reassigned to different squads, so naturally she was a little nervous.

As she watched each of her friends enter and exit the room before her, she began to realize that this inspection was somehow different from their first; aside from it being the first inspection since officially joining the Survey Corps. The expressions on each of her comrades' face's as the exited the mysterious office seemed slightly perturbed in their own ways. But no one would speak on it, as if they were instructed not to say a word.

In that moment, her good friend, Connie Springer, came out of the room with an excruciatingly more drastic expression of discomfort slapped on his face. Connie was somehow able to exaggerate even the smallest of things in a way that was almost comical to Ava. Every once in a while she forgot that was possible, and it was always refreshing to see it in these dark times. "Ava!" He said, shivering over to her like an old man.

"What?" She laughed, startled by him suddenly grasping her shoulders.

"It's not Erwin, Ava!" He began to explain as some soldiers with Military Police patches on their jackets came to calm him down and keep him from causing a scene.

"What?" She asked again. The couple of soldiers grabbed him and began to drag him off and out of the hallway, both obviously irritated with his noise.

"Levi! It's Corporal Levi!" He yelled trying desperately to pass on the dire information.

"Ava Brandt." The soldier standing by the door announced. Her heart sank in shock as she heard her name and she cursed herself for letting Connie's act get the better of her. But why was Corporal Levi doing the inspection and not the commander? And why did she have to be next?

Reluctantly, she headed for the ominously large wooden door and turned the handle, pushing it open. Careful not to waste any of the corporal's time by making him wait, she quickly leaned back against the door behind her and stared up at him awkwardly anticipating some sort of response to the loud down it made.

He sat lazily cross-legged behind the desk, pinching the bridge of his nose as he closed what looked like Connie's file, took a deep breath and continued to put it away. "Sit down." He said without even looking at her and continued to open the next file, her file.

Her eyes darted around nervously before hesitating to sit at the bench, placed against the wall directly in front of his desk. So she sat and waited once again as he scanned through her file. The silence had gone on longer than she was comfortable with and she watched anxiously while he studied the papers in front of him.

Female. Nineteen years of age. Height: one-hundred-fifty-six centimeters. Weight: fifty-seven kilograms. Hair: red. Eyes: green. Date of birth: twenty-second of August. Ranked fifth in her class, between Annie Leonhardt and Eren Jaeger. Excels at 3DMG usage and cooperates well with comrades, but has a strong disregard for rules and struggles with focus. This was Ava Brandt.

Brandt. He recognized that name, but couldn't exactly place it.

Ava was adopted by the Leonhardt family at the age of five after her parents dedicated their lives to joining the Survey Corps. At the age of twelve, both her mother and father were reported missing in action. She ran away from the Leonhardt's household soon after.

Slowly, he began to connect the dots and froze as he suddenly remembered. He stared up at her, hoping to disprove his suspicions but it only confirmed them. If memory served him right, she was the spitting image of her mother.

He took a second to compose his thoughts on how to handle the situation. Just do as Erwin ordered he reminded himself.

"Why isn't Commander Erwin doing the inspections?" She said, interrupting his thoughts.

"Because he asked me to do them." He answered with a look that should have told her not to speak. But, of course, Ava didn't catch on.

"Isn't this part of his job?" She never had the talent of hiding her thoughts or suspicions.

"Generally" He said, desperately attempting not to get irritated. Springer had already tested his patience enough; he didn't need her questioning to add to it. But he knew the consequences of his actions and it wasn't worth it, not today.

She finally got the hint and slumped back like a scolded dog, but she was still curious. There was something the corporal was hiding, and that rubbed her the wrong way. Unfortunately, she knew it wasn't her place and she would definitely regret it if she asked any more.

"Stand." He ordered, putting down her papers and moving out from behind the desk to confront her. She immediately stood in position with her hands held firmly behind her back and her stance wide and strong. He was impressed as he analyzed the strength exuding from her posture. Her eyes shifted curiously from the pin-pointed spot on the wall and followed him as he got closer. "You lived with the Female Titan as a child." He said straight to the point.

"Yes, sir." She should have known this would come up. Realistically, she concluded that this was most likely the whole reason they were at the Military Police's headquarters. The capturing of Annie was still so recent and now they were probably dealing with the legal matters of how to handle her, under whose watch she should be, and what should become of her. She supposed it would be logical, from their point of view, to be suspicious of her.

"Did you know?"

She hesitated. "No." She never knew. Annie never told her. They weren't close in the way the sisters would be. Annie's father kept them in constant competition. All of her life, as far as she could remember, they had always been competing against each other. Life is a battle and someone has to be the winner. That's what their father had taught them, but Ava was never fond of that lesson. It just seemed too barbaric to live in constant rivalry with anyone and everyone they met, treating them like an enemy. She wanted to believe that the world was different. Annie never did. She easily accepted that reality and embraced the combatant mindset that it required. Every once in a while Ava would see a different side to her, a lighter, warmer side. But those times were so rare, it was easy to forget them. Annie was strange and distant for the majority of time they were together. With the things she'd say and the way she'd react to situations, looking back at it now she supposed she did know; if only subconsciously at the time.

He watched the strength slowly vanish from her eyes as they flickered in thought. After a moment, he turned back to pick up her papers and write something down. "Starting tomorrow you'll be reassigned to my unit."

"What? Why?" She asked in protest, finally releasing her professional stance.

"As it stands, you are one of the best soldiers we have," He said, calmly turning back to her, "and as someone who has such a personal history with the Female Titan, I'm sure you can see our reason concern."

Her instincts instantly sparked with opposition and she could feel it beginning to boil within her. She just couldn't take the idea of being reassigned to his squad for an absurd reason such as paranoia. "You can't seriously believe,"

Suddenly, he gripped the base of her ponytail between his fingers and pulled her back. She winced in pain and looked up at him staring back down at her as her cheeks flushed in shock. "Believe that someone with so much of a connection to a Titan could be dangerous in the wrong hands and therefore needs to be placed under close watch?" He said sharply, only inches from her face. "Yes, I can believe that, and I shouldn't have to fucking explain that. What I can't believe is how big your mouth is." Slowly, he held her hair higher so that she could stand almost normally and after a long breath he continued. "You need to learn control."

"Control?" She quickly questioned in defense, skeptical of his authority on that matter.

He sighed, retightening his grip and yanking her down again. "Control of your emotions and your ability to express them with discretion. People can be easily manipulated if they give you the right clues. You wouldn't want something like that to accidentally slip because you lacked the self-control." She determinedly held eye contact with him, despite her crippling realization of what he had said. She knew she lacked control in many aspects, but nothing could convince her to admit it; especially to the person who told her so. His grey eyes were intimidating and sharp belying the energy that seemed to be absent behind them. She also realized then that she was wrong. He seemed to be in complete control of his actions, which made her a little uneasy. It was increasingly more difficult to hold that connection and she squirmed and winced from his grasp which tightened with each move she made. Just slightly, he released his grip to lessen the pain in her scalp and brought her to face him directly. His gaze was now even more intimidating, but she stayed relatively strong. "I'm your commanding officer now," He reaffirmed, "and you answer to me only."

"Yes, Captain." She stuttered obediently.

He finally let go of her hair and walked back to his desk. "Prepare for travel. We'll head back to Headquarters soon." She waited, stunned from what just happened and watched him carefully as he adjusted himself and the papers in front of him for the next inspection. "You're dismissed." He said when he realized that she was still there.

Quickly, she turned on her heel and exited out the door with her head down. She didn't look up to see the people around her as she walked. She just continued to her temporary quarters to do as her new captain ordered: pack.


	2. Chapter 2

**Okay! Please enjoy this next chapter. (This one has Erwin in it!)...and just a reminder, I love suggestions and criticism about my writing, but if you just want to tell me how my characters don't match your personal ships...don't. It doesn't do anyone any good and it's not productive. Let's be adults here. (So sorry for the negative message but it just had to be said. I don't appreciate anonymous taunting, even if its only meant as a joke.) ON THE UPSIDE - this chapter is really cute, so enjoy!**

Set Up

Katya looked out the large window that spanned over the length of Wall Sina as she slowly, carefully, and clumsily placed one foot into leg of her uniform pants. She hated being trapped behind the walls and dreamt every day of her few adventures on the outside. She relished those memories like they were the meaning of life itself. Tucking in her shirt, she rapidly began to unravel her 3DMG straps. The faster she got ready, the faster she could get out of this palace of a place. Suddenly, there was a knock on her door, followed by the door itself opening. Luckily, she had already been behind the dressing screen. "Father." She scorned. "How many times do I have to tell you that a knock needs to be followed by an answer before being opened?"

"All of these formalities have no sense of urgency." The general began on a spiel. "Suppose there was an attack, would the formalities still be of importance then?"

"It's not a matter of formalities. It's just good manners."

"Besides," He continued, "you're already decent."

She stepped out from the dressing screen in shock of her father. "How did you know that?" She said in frustration and dropped the tangled straps from her hand.

"You thought I didn't know about your habit of sneaking out and flying around on the Garrison's spare equipment?" He looked at her cleverly from under his brow.

She sighed, accepting that she had been caught. "Well, if my personal gear hadn't been confiscated I wouldn't have to borrow a spare set." She said proudly.

A smile crept onto his face as they exchanged mischievous, taunting stares. "I need you to run an errand for me today."

"And this is an errand that you can't do yourself? I'm not sure regulations allow me to be doing your work for you"

"I'm busy." He waved off. "I've got mountains of paperwork to do." She could tell he was lying and squinted at him in suspicion.

"General Pixis." One of the guards suddenly announced. "You have a visitor."

"Show him in."

"Yes, sir."

Katya watched as the guard left and she continued to eye her father with even more suspicion.

"Put on the dress that your mother bought for you and meet me downstairs where I'll give you your mission." She groaned, rolling her eyes and turning back to her armoire as her father quickly shut the door behind him. He was so strange at times; she rarely bothered trying to understand what went on in his brain.

She hated the dresses her mother chose for her. They were always so lavish and formal. She held it up against herself and stood in front the mirror. It flowed voluminously from the waist and was decorated with light drapery that was pinned together with a small bow here and there. The short sleeves fell loosely against her shoulders and connected with the neckline. Reluctantly, she stepped into it and accidentally tore the embellishment sewed to the bottom. "Oops." She muttered. Overall, once it was on, the dress actually wasn't horrendous; just annoyingly feminine.

She stared once again in the mirror and began to analyze. Why would she need to wear something like this just to run an errand? Her father was up to something and she didn't like it. But she's learned that his schemes were generally unavoidable.

Pixis strolled down the vast hallways of the mansion that Generalissimo, Darius Zackly, had assigned to him and his family. The place was a bit extravagant for his taste, especially considering the state that the rest of humanity was in; but what could he do? It was Zackly's decision and not his place to question it, so he figured he might as well enjoy it while he can.

At the end of the corridor, Erwin Smith stood statuesquely waiting to be greeted. He found the commander's constant professionalism humorous.

"Good evening, General Pixis." He said with an attempt at the requested casual greeting that caused him to visibly adjust the tension out of his body.

"I wanted to congratulate you on capturing the Female." He said, leading Erwin to the desk in the next room where they could chat and motioned to the armchair for him to sit.

"Thank you, sir."

"It's a job I would have been honored to do myself. And I hear you've found a soldier that may have information on the Titan?"

"Yes, sir. A member of the scouts. She graduated in the same class, just under its rank. Within the next month she will be reassigned to Corporal Levi's unit."

"Very good." He laughed and sat behind the desk that was, in fact, piled high with paperwork. "Now, I've called you hear so that you could retrieve some paperwork, but it seems that I have not yet finished it." He opened his hands to display the extensive stacks of paper around him before noticing his daughter approaching. "My lovely Katya." He said dotingly as she entered the room and held out an envelope for her to take.

Erwin turned to see her standing with her gloved fingers interlaced, waiting patiently for instructions on her task. He stood formally to welcome her into the room and gave her his full attention. She looked beautiful. Her strawberry blonde hair was elegantly pinned up and her dark golden eyes seemed to sparkle as they looked back at him.

The general looked awkwardly between the two and continued his original train of thought. "Since you are here, Erwin, would you mind escorting my daughter to the East Brigade's Courier's office and back?"

"Sir?" He asked, nervously in protest.

"Yes, Commander?" He questioned firmly.

Erwin deliberated the importance of arguing with the general and decided to obey. "Of course." He said, with a small tinge of defeat.

The general smiled as he watched Erwin walk over and offer his arm to Katya. She glared distrustfully back at her father as the two of them turned to begin his errand.

They walked side by side, down the open, cobblestone road in silence. Erwin glanced down to her, hoping to be subtle enough that she wouldn't notice. She just barely reached his shoulders, even at the highest bob of her steps. Despite her disbelief, she appeared very graceful at times; and then there were times where she didn't. She was like the enigma of a ballerina with horrible balance. The ironic analogy of someone who would perform such a strategically composed act and execute it beautifully, yet trip in her bows described her perfectly.

Going for a walk with her was the last thing he was expecting to do this evening. General Pixis sure had a way of placing him in unexpected situations; not that he minded. He quite enjoyed Katya's company. She had a way of making the most boring tasks interesting.

"I suppose I should thank you for accompanying me." She teased, snapping him out of his thoughts.

"It's no trouble at all, Miss Pixis."

She sighed loudly. "Always so polite, Erwin. Please, for hundredth time, call me Katya. It's the least you could do." She said with a tauntingly raised brow.

He smiled, careful not to lose an ounce of his militaristic poise, and continued to walk forward without an answer. Their pace was slow and steady, allowing him to be constantly aware of his surroundings and ready if something were to happen. He took his orders very seriously, no matter the request, and as it seemed, protecting her was his current mission.

"After all, if it weren't for you my gear wouldn't have been confiscated."

"Confiscated." He restated in disbelief. "I would phrase it as self-destructed."

She gasped with sarcasm deeply infused. "He does have a bite."

He glanced down to hide the light grin that crept across his lips. "As I recall you seemed to cause a lot of trouble that day."

"You forget how much I contributed to that battle." She scorned lightly.

"My apologies." He corrected. "You were a great asset to the team and I'm sure you would have been a greater asset if you had been authorized to be involved instead of taking it upon yourself to join the battle on a whim."

"Well," She said, jumping around to walk backwards and face him as they approached the Courier's office. "As I recall, if it hadn't been for that whim, you would be dead." She said, poking at his chest.

He stood stunned as she practically skipped to the office's window and dropped off the envelope. He watched her bounce on her toes and reach to shake the hand of a new desk worker. Her positivity was beyond confusing to him. He didn't understand how someone could know so much of the world, experience the terrors of it first hand, and still be able to show the kindness and liveliness that he saw from her every day.

Although, she looked slightly less chipper as she returned to him. "I wonder what was in that envelope. It seemed important" She said, deep in thought.

He wondered too. Pixis was a curiously secretive man who always had at least some plan in the works at all times and Erwin was never comfortable being on the outside of information. But Pixis was good at what he did and by this time he had learned that no matter how hard he tried to figure him out, there was always something he'd miss.

Soon they came to a canopied walkway with rows of pillars on each side. "Look!" She said and hurried to the thin, stone fence between her and the courtyard. On their left was a large, intricate fountain that poured sparkling water out of multiple valves. The light from the sun danced across the steady ripples made by each stream of water. As he looked out, he found the sky being chopped off by the buildings that surrounded the courtyard. "Isn't it beautiful?" She said, standing on the edge with her feet between the railings and leaning over to get as close as she could. Erwin looked back up to the sky and joined her at the edge. It radiated orange and yellow from the sunset that shaded the clouds with a light purple. It was beautiful. Only she could stop long enough to notice it and to focus hard enough to overlook the sporadic ruins that still lay demolished in the distance from the capture of the Titan. He was sure that she saw them. She had to, but she didn't seem to be bothered.

"Your brain is a curious one." He muttered in amazement.

She quickly unpinned her hair as if she had been waiting all night for it and swinging her head around to face him. "What does that mean?"

"How can you live every day with such freedom?"

She looked into his eyes and spoke in a soft, compassionate voice. "When you live in a world where freedom isn't an option, you begin to find it everywhere." His heart fluttered as she finally gave a light smile and turned back to gaze at the sky. He didn't understand her at all, but all the same, he was glad of her ability to temporarily distract him from the stresses that came with his position. He admired her with her lightly colored locks of hair floating gently from the wind. Suddenly remembering his sense of duty to General Pixis, he cleared his throat and repositioned his stance, suggesting that they head back.

Katya swung herself around, raising an eyebrow at him, and sighed as she hopped off of the railing and joined him. They walked the rest of the way home leisurely and mostly quietly as the sky finally transitioned into the twilight.


	3. Chapter 3

**Sorry again for the negative intro last chapter, but here's chapter 3 (kind of a long one). This is the chapter when I think my writing starts to differ from the old version, more than just random little edits. Again, it's not TOO big of a change, so no worries for those of you who really liked the old story. But it IS improved. SO please enjoy and review if you want :)**

Adjustment

The hallway was dark despite the daylight shining through the archways. It had an odd mixture of temperatures from the cold of the stone walls on one side and the warmth of the sun on the other. The feeling gave her a strange shiver. She debated the possibility that her shiver was actually caused by her inability to quit dwelling on her reassignment. The thought of leaving Sasha and Connie just killed her. They had been with her from the start and suddenly having to come to terms with distance frightened her. She'd known that they could be separated at any moment. It was a dangerous world and they made a dangerous choice of occupation. But the idea of a temporary separation almost felt worse than the possibility of a permanent one. Of course resentfully, she admitted that she was somewhat excited to be a part of Corporal Levi's unit; after all, he was one of the most legendary soldiers in the whole military. But at the same time, it was Corporal Levi. He was cold and ruthless and frankly she found him rude, but his skills on the battlefield were supposedly immeasurable. She was honestly eager to see them. "Ava!" A cheery voice interrupted.

She looked up to see a woman trotting towards her from a run. "Do I know you?"

The woman was lightly tanned with light hair that almost had a subtle hint of pink in it. She instinctually took a step back as the woman approached her, in irritation of yet another person being taller than her.

"I've been looking all over for you, and no…well, I mean, you do now."

She flinched as the woman put an arm around her and guided her in a different direction.

"My name is Katya. I'll be going back to HQ with you."

"Are you in Corporal Levi's unit?" She asked hesitantly to this strange woman.

"…Sure. I was actually sent to tell you that we'll be leaving within the next hour."

"What?"

"You've had your inspection?"

"Yes. Yesterday."

"Of course." She said, exasperatedly. "Well, that was close timing but they made it. You were supposed to be officially reassigned days ago, but Erwin and his formalities insisted for it to be done as per usual. Everyone's very excited to have you on the squad."

"Really." She doubted slightly.

"Oh yes. Well," She paused and rethought on her statement, "I'm not sure those would be the exact words, but yes."

Ava eyed her questioningly. This woman wasn't helping to calm her nerves about the situation. "That's comforting." She commented sarcastically.

Katya glanced at her awkwardly, not knowing how to fix what she had said. Since Ava would be with the team now, she was determined to show her at least one happy face. Naturally, those who were left of Levi's unit weren't the friendliest. They'd been through a lot and rebuilding wasn't going to be an easy task. But she already liked Ava and desperately hoped that she would be a good starting point. "I want you to understand that you will still see the other cadets of your class."

Ava looked up to her with a sheepish attempt at hiding her surprise.

"Though it might not be often. Recent events have forced us to look for new members." She said grimly. "So, the cadets from your graduating class will be going through a sort of "second training" to test their capabilities. This will also be good training for you, but as far as I know it won't be required of you." She paused again to correct herself. "Unless Levi decides otherwise."

"Great." She muttered.

"Oh, he's not so bad as long as you take your missions seriously. His bark is worse than his bite." She glanced to the side, debating whether or not the last statement was entirely true and shoved the thought aside as they continued to walk briskly to Ava's room where she could gather her things.

It didn't take long for her to grab everything she needed and soon she was headed to the gate of Wall Sina with the others. Katya met her there moments after packing everything onto her horse. "Are you ready?" She asked.

Ava lightly scoffed and stared straight through the massive gate. By no means was she ready of all things. As soon as those horses took off she would officially be in Corporal Levi's unit, the most famous unit in the entirety of Survey Corps. Uncertainty captured her as she gave her horse's mane a long and steady pet. She had no idea of what to expect in her new unit, be it the mission or even the atmosphere. She was still kind of confused of her role in this reassignment, which made her even more uneasy. She was sure this unit would be nothing like what she was used to. Although it did give her some level of comfort to know that there was a possibility to see Sasha and Connie again.

She looked at the corporal on his horse from where she was placed towards the rear center. Despite his height, at the front of the pack he looked almost regally superior to the other soldiers. Reality had slowly set in as each minute passed, waiting to begin the journey to Headquarters, but this was the peak of it.

Levi glanced back at the few of them to see if they were all in place and ready. He looked directly at her as he scanned over the soldiers. His look was dauntingly flat and impossible to read, building her nerves even higher.

Before she could console those nerves, he gave the order and the horses took off. This was it. The unit reassignment was now official and there was no going back.

Ava viewed the scenery that surrounded Headquarters as she slowly stepped down from her horse. The area was surprisingly bare for being still inside the walls. It felt as though she could see more of the sky here than in any other district. It felt remote even with the miniature town that the Survey Corps had created for itself. The walls and the rest of civilization looked so far away now.

She tied the reins of her horse to the wooden fence in the stable with the rest of the soldiers and followed the small group, led by Levi. One among that group was Eren Jaeger. He walked closely behind Levi like a dog on a leash. She supposed he had that effect on many people, but it was still strange to see it with Eren.

Ava thought back to her training. She had sparred with Eren only a few times, but the memory was strong. It was obvious that he wasn't fond of her, even back then.

She'd always be fooling around with Sasha and Connie, doing fake karate moves and pretending that they had superpowers. There was one time he interrupted and told them to get serious, so in response Ava lazily held her fists up to oblige him in a fight after she had calmed her pervious laughter. Although he clearly wasn't expecting to start a fight, he was never one to back down. She began to throw a few punches, which he easily dodged. Suddenly he got the idea to flip her to the ground, but when he positioned a hand on her shoulder and an ankle behind hers, she quickly countered by grabbing his arm, rolling outwards, and pinning him down. She stared at him unwaveringly and confounded by his sudden knowledge of that very specific technique. There was only one other person that should know of that move and it wasn't him. She looked up while, keeping her knee that had him pinned to the ground in place, and searched the training yard for her. In the very back of the yard she spotted Annie eyeing scene as she turned the corner. Just then, Ava suddenly heard Sasha and Connie cheering, dragging her back into the present moment and she got up from on top of Eren, glancing back towards where Annie had been and then back down at him again. She looked at him analytically and decided to offer her hand. Hesitantly, he took it and stood himself back up. They didn't talk much after that.

She wondered what his opinion of her was now. It couldn't have been too positive, inferring from their previous history and it could have gone one of two ways since the recent Titan developments. She didn't enjoy being on difficult terms with people, but she also didn't see much she could do about it just now.

Suddenly, a crazed woman fell from the sky with an excited scream, nearly startling everyone into a heart-attack except for the corporal, who watched with a groan as the woman clumsily stood to her feet and adjusted her glasses with a wide smile. "Eren! Come here!" She said in a devastatingly worried tone. "I heard that you defeated the Female! Did you get injured? Or did you perhaps gain a new ability? Did anything happen that I should know about?"

"N-no." He answered, shaking slightly from her grasp on his shoulders. "I'm fine."

"Too bad. I was looking forward to examining you. I thought of some new experiments while you were gone." She said excitedly.

"Okay." It was strange to Ava how easily he accepted her offer of experimentation.

"Good afternoon, Levi!" She said cheerily. He attempted to back away from her without success and was pulled in to a tight hug.

"Get off of me, shit-glasses." He said sternly and she begrudgingly pacified with a disappointed scold, then turned her attention to Katya.

The woman sauntered up with her arms crossed in front of her and a smirk upon her lips. The two of them stared at each other for a moment. Then she lightly placed her fingertips on Katya's shoulder and pushed it. Katya smiled back and returned the push, being instantly answered with another playful push that she shoved away. Both began to giggle and finally hug.

"We'll talk later." She winked, then proceeding on to Ava. "I'm Squad Leader Hanji Zoë." She said, proudly holding out a hand for her to shake. She hesitantly took it, surprised to see a squad leader as friendly as she seemed to be. Hanji had very masculine features that somehow didn't take away from her femininity. It made her strangely beautiful. Her eyes were vibrant and full of energy while her brown hair shined in her high-placed ponytail that was so messily put up that a majority of her hair fell in her face. Despite her many eccentric qualities, she still managed to exude a small sense of authority behind it all. Ava instantly admired that.

"Ava Brandt." She introduced herself. The squad leader's wide smile instantly dropped and she held Ava's hand with both of hers compassionately. They stared at each other intently and confused for a few moments before being interrupted.

"Hanji!"

"Yes, Levi." She asked, immediately directing herself to him and forgetting all of her previous actions.

"Show Brandt to the barracks." He ordered.

Hanji turned back to Ava with another smile. "Come on. Let's go before he starts to assign chores." She teased quietly so that he wouldn't hear and guided her to the old stone castle.

It truly was a castle, built completely out of stone and redecorated to fit a militaristic design and purpose. Her bedroom was on the second level towards the end of a long corridor. The room was small and cold, excluding the spots where sunlight hit. A desk was placed to the right of the only window in the room while a tall bunk-bed leaned against the wall on the other side, holding the memory of a time when Headquarters required many more beds than it currently did. "Isn't it wonderful?" Hanji comforted proudly with her hands on her hips.

Ava dropped her bags on the bottom bunk and flung herself back onto the mattress. It wasn't a fancy mattress and didn't have much cushioning to it, but it was more than enough. Sitting up, she looked between Hanji and Katya and smiled, for the first time in a while. She wasn't quite sure why she smiled. There wasn't a specific reason she could think of that had cheered her up. It just felt right. Perhaps it was just a matter of finally being able to settle after a long trip with nothing to do while it lasted. "So this is Headquarters." She said matter-of-factly.

"Underwhelming, I know." Katya joked as she sat at the edge of the bed with her.

Ava sighed. "It's just going to take time to adjust."

"We understand that." Hanji said casually. "But don't be expecting to have much leisurely time to yourself. Levi always has a long list of things that need to be done. In fact I'm surprised he hasn't—"

"What are you three doing?" He asked sharply as they all turned to see that their captain had appeared by the doorway in passing. He began to glance around the room with a displeased look on his face. "Clean this place up." He ordered. "It's filthy." With one last look at the room and to the three of them, he continued to wherever it was he was going.

Hanji looked about the room awkwardly for a few seconds, then put a stiff hand to her forehead and gave a quick salute before running after Levi. Ava then looked to Katya who was slowly backing out of the room to follow them. It amazed her that they could retreat so easily just at the idea of having to do chores and had no regrets about leaving their new member all on her own to get the job done. But surely there would be hell to pay if she left as well, so what else could she do but suck it up.

She didn't mind cleaning, but as she looked around the room she realized that there were no cleaning supplies. There was only a cobwebbed broom leaning in the corner. She sighed and grabbed the broom to do what she could with it.

It felt like a full hour of cleaning and Ava was still stuck in her head. She couldn't comprehend the interactions that Hanji and Katya had with the corporal. They were so casual with him while she, on the other hand, couldn't even look at him without becoming anxious. And to now be taking commands from a man like that was beyond anything she was prepared for. She never would have suspected to be reassigned to a squad like this; one that she'd heard so many stories about since childhood.

In a moment of realization, she put her hand on the pocket of her jacket and snaked her fingers around the clasp to the inside of it. She slowly pulled out the chain that draped nostalgically around her fingers. A locket dangled at the end of it and carefully she swung it into her palm. She stared, hypnotized by it, and touched the edge of it lightly with her fourth finger as she pondered the thought of opening it. She came to an unequivocal conclusion to open it when she heard footsteps at the door and quickly turned around when they had stopped. Levi stood once again in the doorway, staring at her. He glanced at the locket in her fist and back to her knowingly. She waited, daring him to ask about it, but he didn't. "You call this clean?" He said instead. "It's no good at all. Redo it all from scratch."

"But all I have is this broom." She argued.

"Then I suggest you use it." He said as if it were obvious. She opened her mouth in protest but stopped, realizing that he wasn't going to be of any help. "Dinner will be in thirty minutes, so get it done before then." He finished.

She watched him leave the room in disbelief. How was she expected to clean the whole room in less than thirty minutes with only a broom? She huffed out a loud groan and swiped up the broom from where she placed it earlier. Levi had to be the most aggravating squad leader of any squad in the whole human race. He was supposed to be a teacher of sorts but so far all she'd seen was him tossing out orders and providing no assistance or guidance in the slightest. She couldn't stand the thought of him at that second. And to think, he had caught her at a sentimental moment without even a care. It made her anger boil. But slowly it subsided as she thought about that moment again. That locket was everything to her. It was the reason she joined the Survey Corps. Missing in action: a vague term used only to confuse the poor family members of the victims that day and to most likely hide someone else's secrets. She would get to the bottom of her parents' disappearance. She was determined. Nothing else mattered.

Ava soon discovered that Headquarters' main building was very much like a maze. Without a guide, it seemed impossible to navigate and after opening numerous wrong doors, she hoped with everything she had that the large double doors in front of her led to the dining hall. She poked her head through the doors to see Hanji sitting across from Eren and staring intently at him, while Levi sat leaning against the back of his chair, holding a cup of tea by the rim and judgingly observing the two of them before he took a sip. "You're late." He said, glancing up from his tea.

His constantly apathetic tone and snarky little comments were quickly getting on her nerves. So she took a deep breath in attempts to calm herself before she spoke. "It was difficult to find, having never been here before and being given no directions or tour of the place." She said directly at him with a glare.

"You're not late." Katya corrected as she entered from the kitchen with small platters of food lined up on her arm. "I just finished cooking." She smiled after setting half of the plates onto the table.

Ava stared amazed by the lavish extent that the food was prepared to. There was a large roasted foul as the main dish, served with potatoes and bread. Aside from the meat, it was a basic meal but it was decorated and prepared with an elegant flare. "You cooked all of this?" She asked to Katya.

"Of course. Someone has to."

"I mean, this is so…"

"Unexpected?" Eren guessed.

"Well, yes," Ava struggled "but I was thinking more along the lines of…incredible."

Katya smiled in thanks. "Being this close to the outer wall has its benefits. We're able to hunt our own game since none of the civilians would even think about coming this close to danger."

Ava took a bite out of the strip of meat that was ripped from the bird and served to her plate. It was more flavorful and juicy than any meat she had had in a very long time. "Where did you learn to cook like this?" She asked in awe.

"What? She didn't tell you?" Hanji said. Katya looked warningly at her to keep quite. But she had to say at least something. "Oh. She's practically a royal." She taunted.

"No. I'm not." She reassured to Ava.

"Tch." Levi huffed in disagreement.

Her head snapped to him and she gave him a scornful look, before returning to her seat. "My father has been in the Garrison for a very long time. Naturally that has given me the opportunity to live a more privileged life than others. So I was able to pick up on many skills that other people might not have had the time or resources for."

"It's very good." She complimented. "Does anyone else cook?"

"Not usually." She said, finally sitting down to enjoy the meal herself.

"Some of us aren't allowed in the kitchen." Hanji pouted.

"That's because some of us like to put secret ingredients into the pots." Katya said, flicking a spec of potato at her. She flinched and wiped the potato bit from her cheek into her mouth.

"Secret ingredients?" Ava muttered, questioningly.

Hanji only giggled deviously in response. Her eyes being hidden by the glare in her glasses left an even more ominous effect.

She looked down at her food, thankful that it was prepared by someone other than Hanji and continued to eat. They all ate quietly and seemed content with the silence in their own way. She observed each of them to find that they were completely comfortable sharing a meal together, like it was a common occurrence for squad leaders and trainees to be associating so naturally with one another. To all of her knowledge, the military kept a strict separation of ranks, but this was far from that. It was as if they were trying to establish a strangely forced, family environment, but no one other than herself seemed to notice the odd atmosphere.


	4. Chapter 4

**Here's an almost completely new chapter! This one is a little shorter than the last. I wrote it a while ago, but hadn't gotten the chance to post it. So please enjoy and review! Thank you!**

Jokes and Apprehension

Ava rushed outside the next morning without even taking the time to make sure the pieces of her uniform were assembled correctly. She just ran as fast as she could in fear of missing them. Although she knew that wouldn't be the case, she somehow couldn't help herself from worrying. Without Katya's wake up call, she wouldn't have even known the recruitment was happening already. Finally, she saw them just a few feet from the stable as they all unloaded from their horses. It didn't take long for her eyes to catch sight of Connie and Sasha and she desperately resisted the urge to go tackle them from the overwhelming excitement she felt. The following sight was what stopped her. Commander Erwin tied his horse's reigns down, keeping a gentle hand on its nose, as he glanced back to the squad of recruits behind him. His actions seemed to glide smoothly together in such a natural manner that was almost routinely executed. Quickly scanning over his trainees, he moved to greet Levi, towering over him. She watched as the two briefly conversed before parting ways, allowing Levi to give a command to the trainees and they subsequently fell in line.

"The Captain didn't say anything about them arriving today." Ava said in shock to Katya and Hanji.

"Communication isn't one of Levi's strongest skills." Hanji muttered. "He must have thought it wasn't important enough to mention." Ava pursed her lips judgingly towards her captain. It seemed like a pretty important event to her, especially considering that she was a member of his squad and it would be a logical choice to include her and the others in what was going on. But, of course, that was only her opinion.

"I wonder who he got that from." Katya raised a brow to the commander teasingly as he passed the three of them. He held back a smirk and gave her a quick glance from the corner of his eye.

Ava froze awkwardly, as he positioned himself next to Katya to watch Levi's orientation. Her eyes nervously darted back and forth to the commander. She shouldn't be here. She was still technically a cadet. A commander was way out of her league to be standing so casually with. In fact, all three of them were far above her rank. It was understandable for her to feel out of place next to a commander, a squad leader, and…come to think of it, she wasn't quite sure what Katya's rank was, but she could only assume that it was far above her own. She subtly readjusted her posture to a more proper state and realized how disheveled her uniform was. She desperately patted herself and stared at the commander, scrambling to fix it before he noticed, but within seconds she was caught and froze once again. Despite his intense blue eyes, he didn't seem to care about her sloppy attire and simply looked back to the orientation. Slowly, she leaned in to Katya. "Why didn't he reprimand me?" She asked quietly.

"You're not mine to reprimand." He answered almost as if his own statement bothered him.

Ava cocked her head and looked at him, bug-eyed in shock that he had heard her. "What?" She asked in fear and quickly looked between Katya and the commander. He lifted his head slightly to reaffirm his attention ahead of them.

She gulped, slowly turning back to the orientation and locked her eyes onto the only person he could have meant. Although she was sure a punishment from the commander would be terrifying; the thought of his triggered a gulp out of her. For some reason, she was sure the captain's punishment would be much worse.

She could barely hear from this distance but a few words stood out here and there, just enough to give her the gist of what was going on. Even still, it was interesting to observe the way he commanded the trainees. Some seemed completely attentive and stable, while others struggled to hide the fear that the captain easily instilled in them. Connie however was attempting to wave sneakily at her. She hesitantly held her hand up to wave back before seeing Levi turn and suddenly jam his knee into the crook of Connie's left leg, effortlessly pushing an elbow into his chest and causing him to stumble hard onto the ground. Slowly, her hand fell back to her side as she cringed empathetically. Levi bent down and spoke with a sharp sternness that only a horrified Connie could hear, before straightening his back to address the rest of the recruits. "Is anyone else bored with my instructions?" He announced with a painfully stoic expression. All of them stood even more attentive than before as he waited for another challenger. "Good." He said mostly to himself when no one stepped up, and began to walk away from them. "Squad Leader Hanji will show you to the barracks. You're dismissed." They slowly relaxed with each step farther Levi took from them and they eyed Connie as a reference of how not to act. Bertholdt and Sasha gingerly helped him up and dispersed with the rest of the group.

"Levi?" Hanji complained about the sudden responsibility he assigned on her.

"I remember you mentioning that you weren't intending to be rough on them." Erwin scorned as Levi approached.

"Tch." He huffed before doing a double take to Ava. She waited anxiously for a reaction as he examined her uniform. Her heart felt like it was going to beat out of her chest in anticipation. An almost pleadingly desperate expression found its way onto her face as he slowly stared back up at her. "What's with your clothes?" He finally accused. Her 3DMG straps were on but sloppily unhooked, her shirt's top three buttons were undone and one off of alignment, and she had completely forgotten the sash to go around her hips. "Fix them before I see you again." He finished as the four of them watched him walk back to the main building, away from everyone.

As each of them dispersed on their own, Ava followed in the tour with her old friends, adjusting her clothing accordingly on the way. Two bodies leaped onto her before she could get very far. "Guys." She smiled without bothering to push Connie and Sasha off of her.

"So this is what happened to you." Sasha said, holding her by her shoulders.

"What the hell?" Connie exclaimed. "Did you upgrade or something?"

"Not sure that's exactly it." Ava muttered, continuing to undo and redo the straps on her legs.

"Then what?" He asked.

Ava stared up at him glumly.

"Annie." Sasha sighed in realization.

"Oh." He understood.

Ava forced her lips to turn up in a weak smile before changing the subject. "You okay?" She asked Connie, almost amused by what had just happened to him.

"Oh, yeah I'm fine." He scoffed to cover, before she gently nudged him in the chest and he winced in response.

"Uh-huh." She teased as Sasha snickered in the background.

"Shut up." He muttered defensively.

"Don't worry you're not his first victim." She comforted as they joined the rest of the group.

"Don't say it like that." He said, grossed out.

Sasha laughed. "Did you get in trouble with him too?"

Ava tilted her head back and forth, thinking about it. "You know, I'm not sure actually."

"How do you not know?" Connie asked as if it were obvious.

She squinted at him. "Because I don't know." She said, mimicking his tone before continuing seriously. "He's a hard person to read, I guess. I don't remember doing anything wrong…except for just now." She corrected. "I think he just doesn't like me."

"That sucks." Connie said apathetically. "Especially since you like him."

"What?" She exclaimed, stopping in her tracks.

Sasha burst out laughing in shock.

"What are you talking about?" She shoved off.

"Oh, come on." He pressured childishly. "You talk about him all the time!"

"Since when?" She almost screeched.

"Since forever! Even before we joined the Scouts, when we were still in training. You talked about him all the time! The Great Corporal Levi!" He taunted.

"He's a good corporal!" She defended.

"Is that it?"

She rolled her eyes and struggled to find her words, muttering after a few seconds. "I mean, yeah, he's not unattractive."

"He's short," Sasha interrupted, "and moody."

"Well, I'm not exactly the tallest individual…and I would be too, dealing with your sorry asses." She defended.

"You want to be his first, don't you?" Connie teased with another disgusted expression on his face.

"His first victim?" Ava questioned sarcastically.

"No, you want to be his _first_." He whispered obnoxiously.

She rolled her eyes at him, finally beginning to get annoyed as everyone entered into another hallway. "I'm sure he had his first a long time ago, and why are we still talking about this? If he wasn't mad at me before he definitely would be if he heard this."

At that moment, Ava noticed a body standing to the left as they passed. She stopped and looked up to see Hanji standing there silently. Had she just heard their whole conversation? Light shined over her glasses. "You're secret's safe," Ava's heart began to beat again as she smiled nervously in thanks and continued walking, "for now."

She shot her glance back, uncomfortably questioning what she just heard, but shook in off and continued along, finishing adjusting what she could of her clothes before needing to go back to her room.


	5. Chapter 5

**Hi everyone! I won't delay things too much since I'm sure you'd much rather get on with the story than listen to me talk. So here's the next chapter. I hope you enjoy!**

Discussions

Erwin wiped his forehead with his palm and stood hunched over his desk as he studied his orders. Flipping through the detailed pages, he pondered the best way to move forward when he heard a knock on the door. "Come in." He said, gathering the sprawled pages as Levi entered. He set the papers back down and looked up at him. "How is she handling it?"

"How should I know?" He said without an ounce of interest.

"Levi, your orders are to be her mentor."

"I am." He said, calmly leaning against the wall. "I'm working on teaching her the skills she needs to survive out there."

"That's not your only objective. You need to gain her trust."

"Why?"

"You know why." The two stared at each other for a few seconds before Levi finally sighed and glanced away. There were two reasons that came to his mind. One of them was sure to cause a situation that he actively avoided on a daily basis. It wasn't his job to coddle his subordinates and frankly it irritated him. So instead, he associated the other more likely reason and turned his gaze rebelliously up to the commander.

"How's the general's daughter?" He asked tauntingly.

Erwin's jowls jumped and he adjusted his stance. "She's well." He responded, attempting to ignore the cocky smirk that crept onto the edge of his mouth. "Let's focus on the matter at hand."

The entertainment slowly left Levi's face as he stared at him in deliberation and glanced away before speaking. "Hanji and Katya are keeping her relaxed. She still insists on challenging the system and she's timid."

"By challenging the system, you mean challenging you?" He said smugly.

"She spews shit from her mouth whenever she's unhappy with an order." He grumbled.

"That doesn't seem like a timid thing to do. Have you seen her spar yet?"

"No."

Erwin looked over him with understanding. "You may change your mind after you do. Give her a chance to prove herself. I believe she'll be valuable as long as we can gain her trust." He reiterated.

After a few seconds of deliberation, Levi glanced down and said, "Alright."

In that moment, they heard the door squeak open as Katya peeked her head in. Erwin straighten and Levi glanced judgingly between to the two of them. "Levi." Katya greeted, awkwardly.

He rolled his eyes and let out a long, irritated breath as he turned and left the room.

She smiled, secretly proud at how easily she could pester him, and glanced back sheepishly to Erwin. "Commander." She greeted with a tease.

"What is it, Katya?" He said as he gathered his papers again, aimlessly trying to resist the smile he felt creeping onto the corners of his lips.

"I can't come in here to say hi?" She leaned in with her fingers intertwined behind her back.

He looked up at her and relaxed a little as he sighed. "Hi." His voice was smooth and warm, filling her with a feeling that bubbled up and poured out of her in the form of an infectious smile. Decidedly, she meandered over to him at a coy pace and dragged a few fingers along the edge of his desk, pulling a suspicious glance to them out of him.

"Do you need any help organizing your desk?" She offered, pretending to observe the mess of scattered objects. "I'm very good at that."

He watched her foolishly attempt to sneak a peek at his instruction papers as he placed three fingers on the thin stack and slowly moved it out of her eyes reach. He tilted his head towards her with a scolding smirk. "I think you need a little more practice."

"But I'm a great organizer. Ask Hanji." She defended.

"That's not what I'm referring to." He said quietly, leaning into her as she glanced quickly to the papers and back to him. "And anyone is a great organizer compared to Hanji."

"Touché." She said proudly, stepping back from the table and eyeing him.

"So…" He began, "what can I do for you?"

Katya's lips puckered slightly before her grin, in attempts to stop her thoughts from appearing on her face. "There's multiple things you could do for me." She smirked. "But you can start with telling me why we're giving Miss Brandt specially attention."

He stared at her, deciding what to say. "She sure is a popular topic of discussion today." He avoided before letting out a breath. He knew she wouldn't be able to leave it alone until he told her everything, or at least as much as he could manage. "Because of her relation to the Female Titan she needs a close eye kept on her until we know whose side she's on. Your father has entrusted me with that responsibility and I've assigned Levi to test her and determine the results."

"You're having Levi call the shots on what to do with someone you think might be a Titan?" She clarified disapprovingly.

"He can handle it."

"Do you think she's a Titan?" She asked personally. "She doesn't strike me as one."

"Intuition can be wrong." He reminded.

She glanced down to her shoes and supposed he was right. It's happened before and who's to say it wouldn't happen again. She understood why they didn't want to take any risks.

There was a small silence as Erwin watched her concentrating on her own thoughts. "I also want you to befriend her." He stated.

"Is that an order, Commander?" She teased with a brow raised.

"A request." He corrected. "Whether she's a Titan or not, she's still a person and Levi can be difficult to connect with."

"Can be?" She questioned as she lifted on the balls of her feet to turn.

"Katya."

"Don't worry." She comforted. "I was planning to either way.

After allowing a few hours of adjustment for the trainees and time to reflect for Katya, they all reported outside for additional training and assessments. Instead of joining the others, Katya decided to keep Ava behind to help prepare the dining hall. Now that there were more people to seat, the settings needed some rearranging. "So, how are you liking your new section?" She kicked off with small talk.

"It's strange."

"That's a…strange response." She chuckled, looking up from the chair she was setting in place.

"Sorry." Ava hesitated. She couldn't stop thinking about why she was placed into this unit. She was a suspect and yet Katya and Hanji were treating her with such kindness. She wanted to speak, to get answers to her questions, but she didn't even know what to ask or what she was allowed to say. She felt so lost and confused and began to think it would be simpler if they treated her like a traitor. At this point that's essentially what she was to them. Without further knowledge or proof, that was only the safest assumption. She wouldn't blame them. But now to be not only be treated with kindness but almost as an equal; she didn't understand it.

"You know, I was unsure about it at first." Katya began, sensing her obvious stress. Ava paused what she was doing and looked up at her in confusion. "Bringing someone suspected of such things into our ranks." She clarified. "But I was optimistic and I'm glad I made the decision to be." She smiled up at her.

"Why?"

She laughed. "You're not a Titan. And if you were, you wouldn't be one of them. If anything, I think you'd be more like Eren, if that makes any sense." She began to ramble. There was a slight tinge of doubt when she talked, but she quickly shoved it off. "Besides, Levi seems to like you."

"Excuse me?" She said, stumbling against the chair that she had just placed.

"Well he hasn't completely humiliated you at least."

"And that's a sign of fondness from him?"

"Levi is…different. He takes time to warm up. And he's been paying extra attention to your training."

"That wouldn't be because of what we were just talking about?"

Katya paused for a moment and watched her expressions, wondering how to continue. "Hanji likes you." She add to continue her ramblings. "She has a trustworthy intuition about people. So if she likes you, I like you."

Ava smiled and chuckled a little, deciding to forget her suspicions. "I know someone like that."

"Really?"

"Sasha, one of the other recruits in my class. The girl can be a moron sometimes, but not with things like that."

"She sounds nice." Katya said softly.

"Yeah." She laughed reminiscently. "She's as close as I have to family."

Her gaze fell curiously on Ava, whose tone seemed to mellow as she continued to set the chairs in a sort of mechanical manner. As much as Katya wanted to ask, she could see that she was already withdrawn into her own thoughts. So the two of them moved the tables into rows and finished up.


	6. Chapter 6

**Things are getting exciting in this chapter! Thank you everyone for being so patient with me. It's hard, but I'm slowly getting out of a writing-rut. And I think this is a great chapter to start back up with, so please review and enjoy!**

 **Touch**

Dust had been kicked up from the ground and swirled low in the air. As she approached the improvised training area that was set up in the large patch of dirt, Ava could hear the grunts and yells coming from the recruits. She was surprised to find that she was almost excited. It had been a while since she was able to do combat training and she missed the adrenaline.

Hearing footsteps, she looked behind to see Katya catching up to her with a friendly smile. "Hi, again." Ava greeted slightly awkwardly. She found it odd how attached Katya seemed to be to her. "What exactly is your rank?" She asked, hoping it wouldn't come off too boldly.

"Uh," She thought for a moment, "we're equals." She said simply with another bright smile.

Ava squinted her eyes in confusion of the vague answer she got, but ignored it and the two headed towards the rest of the group. "Levi!" Katya called out in search of him. "Levi?" She called again.

"What is it?" He answered sharply, walking up to a pile of wooden crates he used as a table.

"Oh." She bounced over to him. "We're done in the dining hall."

He began to take off his gloves and unwrap his hands, then stared unimpressed at her until she was forced to continue.

"So…what should we do next?"

He asked her a series of questions and went on to explain some things about the schedule, but Ava frankly wasn't listening. She had followed so closely next to Katya that Levi was standing less than arm's length away from her in only a pair of shorts for exercising. It wasn't until he fully turned to face them that she became stunned by the sight of his muscles. Clothes hid them well, but now that they were exposed, she saw just how fit and surprisingly large he was. Considering his height, she figured that he would be a bit more slender. He was still just as lean as she thought he would be, but there was much more mass to his arms, shoulders, chest, and even torso. It looked like there was no fat on his body at all…just lean muscle. Her body became warm and she felt static clouding over her skin. She was too close to him. Her palms flexed and fingers slowly rubbed against each other, finding it harder and harder to resist the urge that was poking and prodding through her anxious heartbeats.

Levi's speech became distracted slightly as he noticed an odd look on Ava's face. He continued to talk, but stopped when he realized that she was still staring in a daze at his abdomen. Her cheeks were obnoxiously flushed as she continued to stare and mindlessly suck in her lips at the sight. He never enjoyed being gawked at, so he took a deep breath and glanced towards Katya, who unfortunately could see the irritated expression growing on his face, before it suddenly turned to shock.

Ava's hand had slid from fingertips to palm over the ripples his abdomen, and instantly, without thought, Levi grabbed her wrist, spinning her around to twist her arm behind her back. "What made you think that would be a good idea?" He snapped into her ear as she gasped and winced in pain, finally out of her trance. Her face felt even hotter now that she was in a clear state of mind. She bit back the urge to swear as he nudged her wrist up impatiently. But she didn't have an answer. Her tongue was still tied from the sudden shock of being restrained and her mind was still a little hazy from her previous daydream. Feeling the heat from his body radiating against her back and his breath against her skin as he questioned her sent a strange, warm tingle between her legs that made her insides flip and her whole body tighten up.

She squirmed slightly to loosen the sharp feeling in her shoulder and to shake off the last bit of haziness in her brain before saying, "I don't know." as quickly as she could in the hopes that he'd let go. She buckled forward desperately to loosen the stinging, but it didn't work.

"It sounds like we need to work on your critical thinking as well as your self-control." He leaned over her and said quietly into her ear again. It was torture. "As I was saying," He bit out as he pulled her back up, still trapped in his hold, "the first thing on your agenda is sparring and since you were late," He scanned the crowd of trainees in the middle of their practice and shouted, "You! Mikasa."

"What?" Ava panted as Levi pushed her out of his grip and she stood rubbing her shoulder, looking back and forth between the captain, Mikasa who was headed closer, and the other members of his unit who pitifully couldn't look away from the whole scene.

"Here's your new partner." He said casually to Mikasa and glanced back to Ava, who sighed and rolled her head in disbelief. There was no use arguing and she couldn't even blame him. She brought this on herself and she knew it.

She gulped and reluctantly stepped towards her opponent. Mikasa stood a few feet away from her and the two of them held up their fists in preparation. "I'm sorry."

Ava's eyes widened at the softly spoken words. When those two words were muttered from her mouth, she knew she was in trouble. Her ass was about to be handed to her on a silver platter and there was nothing she could do about it.

"Begin!" Levi called, and within the first second Ava took a hard blow to the cheek.

"Fuck." She spat out, immediately gaining some distance as she stumbled back from the impact, but Mikasa was quick. Her punch was followed by two long steps forward and a side-kick to the ribs. Now on her feet, Ava blocked the kick and continued to block just a few more moves until she felt an elbow jab into her chest. Countering the next move, Ava landed her first hit. But of course, Mikasa was too good.

She left Ava relying only on proper blocking and the occasional counter attack for what felt like minutes of hit after hit, until she felt her body beginning to give out. It became harder to move with each second that passed and just as her muscles stung with sharp twinges of fatigue, as she was about to lose confidence, she found an opening. As long as she could dodge this next swing, she could do it. Her body suddenly flowed along with her mind and she saw the angle of Mikasa's fist crossing slightly more than her other swings. So Ava hit her palm against the outside of her swinging arm, using her own weight against her. Then she skipped, kicking her back leg further behind the rest of her body, and finally pressing her palm into the small of her back, pushing her to the ground. This was her surefire ending move and there was no way she'd be able to get up easily within the three seconds it would take for a real enemy to kill her. But she did. Ava didn't know how it happened. It was as if time had just skipped over the few seconds it took Mikasa to turn the fight in her favor and suddenly their roles were switched and she was on her back. Flabbergasted by the hard thud of her back hitting the ground, she shut her eyes tight at the feeling of Mikasa's forearm against her chest.

"Done." Levi announced as he approach after letting a few seconds of defeat settle in.

Mikasa quickly got up from on top of her and looked to Levi for further instructions, while Ava continued to lie on the hard dirt. She let a weak breath out through her nose and embraced the feeling of solid ground beneath her. She couldn't believe it. She was so close to winning and then suddenly it was over before she could even figure out what happened.

A hand was suddenly held down in front of her. Glancing to it and then to the flushed, glistening face staring back at her, she reluctantly took it. Mikasa looked almost as worn out as she did, which was a little bit of a comforting sight.

Ava didn't get a moment to herself until after lunch, and she desperately needed a bath after that morning, so that's what she decided to spend her time doing. In fact, she hadn't had a chance to bathe since she arrived at Headquarters. Excitedly, she grabbed her toiletries and hurried to the closest communal bath.

Once inside and alone, she closed the door behind her and stripped off her uniform which had a subtle embarrassing odor. She kicked it off to the side and turned the nozzle. The water was cold so she waited testing the temperature with her fingertips until it finally began to warm up. Filling the tub only as much as she needed, to save water for the others, she sank down. The heat only lasted for a few moments, then it remained lukewarm at best. After dunking her head and soaking her hair, she leaned over and grabbed her personal bar of soap from her bag, remembering the first time her mother gave her fancy scented soap from the interior. It was a classic, light, rose scent that was familiar to her. It trained her to think of her mother whenever she smelled or even saw roses. Eventually, it became too difficult as she grew up more without her parents there. Roses now served as a reminder of loneliness. With too many reminders always following closely behind her, she switched to the habit of purchasing a new scented soap when the chances occurred.

As she lathered the soap into her hands and rubbed it against her arms and chest, the fresh smell of tuberose and white lily wafted through the air. She lifted her legs, one at a time, to get every part of her that wasn't submerged in water. Then running her hands back up and down her torso, she felt the slick layer of soap under her skin as her hands continued naturally down her stomach and between her thighs before slowly gliding toward and against her folds, releasing a warm tingle as her finger slipped between them slightly.

She paused when the sudden thought of that afternoon and Corporal Levi snuck into her mind. She could feel her heart beginning to beat faster, petrified by the inclination she had to inch her fingers just a little. But she was frozen as she tried to force the image of him out of her head.

Finally, she snapped out of it and submerged herself once again into the water to rinse and to clear her mind. Determined to deny the thoughts she had, she stood up, drained the water, wrapped a towel around herself, and grabbed her things to go back to her room.

Turning just outside of the doorway, she abruptly stopped before she ran into something. "Reiner!" She greeted, tapping a hand to his chest in surprise. He stood with a confused expression on his face as she adjusted her stance awkwardly, realizing that he must have been reacting to her apparel. She rolled her lips between her teeth and averted her eyes momentarily as the silence continued. "This is the first chance I've gotten to say hello to you." She attempted to converse normally.

"Uh…yeah." He said simply.

They both took in a breath, thinking of what to say. "I would give you a hug, but…" She rambled glancing down to the towel that barely covered her and smiled weakly back up at him, which forced him to finally acknowledge how little she was covered.

He glanced over her nervously as bright pink blush appeared on his cheeks and a quick grin in agreement flicked onto the corner of his lips before glancing back up to her face. "And why don't you have clothes?" He asked, still confused.

"Well…my room is just down that way," She pointed behind him, "so…" She trailed off, figuring that he would get the idea of what she was saying. Since her room was so close she didn't think it would have been a too much of an issue to just wait to change until she got back to it.

He turned to look where she gestured and back. "Good to know." He said without thinking.

"Is it?" She confidently retorted with a quickness. He stared at her for a moment before catching onto her flirtation and a hesitantly amused smile grew across his face. He knew what she was trying to do. It was a game for them, especially on her side. Not that he minded. Every once in a while he would even get in the first shot. But her, in this circumstance, was almost out of his comfort-zone. She could see the struggle to remain at least slightly professional to his fellow soldier throughout his body. He almost twitched with the temptation to play back, but after a few seconds more of eyeing each other, he cleared his throat.

Ava took in a disappointed breath and smiled with a raised brow at him. "Good talk." She said smugly, putting a hand on his shoulder and letting it drag down his bicep as she continued to walk back to her room.

Once he knew she was a good distance away, he spun around to watch her hips sway and the hem of the towel wrapped around her brush the back of her thighs as she walked away. He groaned softly in frustration before spinning back around to continue down the hall.


End file.
